Marshall University Libraries’ Partners Program was created to establish formal, ongoing relationships between the Library and Marshall University colleges, programs, and departments. The goal of the program is to foster dialogue between the Library and academic colleges and programs it supports. This dialogue will enhance the Library’s understanding of user needs, promote the integration of information literacy into the curricula, and support collection development. The program matches a library faculty member and support team with a college or program, and subsequently the departments within. See the list of Library Partners by College/Program.
Too often we assume that as students write research papers and read textbooks they are gaining sufficient IL skills. This is not so. IL skills may be introduced but what is needed is a parallel curriculum in IL forming a strong foundation of a college education.
Learn about the ACRL Framework here
Assessment - The act or process of gathering data to better understand the strengths or weaknesses of student learning.
Course-related instruction - Focused for the students taking a course, and teaches aspects of library use and the resources needed to accomplish the assignments for the course. It supports the objectives of the course but does not constitute an integral part of them.
Course-integrated instruction - The teaching of the use of the library and the library resources as an integral part of the objectives of the course. It is considered essential for the student to learn and be tested on both their understanding of the course concepts and their ability successfully complete library-related assignments.
Collaboration - Two or more partners bringing different strengths and perspectives to a task with shared goals, a shared vision, and a climate of trust and respect.
Frameworks - The Framework offered here is called a framework intentionally because it is based on a cluster of interconnected core concepts, with flexible options for implementation, rather than on a set of standards or learning outcomes, or any prescriptive enumeration of skills. At the heart of this Framework are conceptual understandings that organize many other concepts and ideas about information, research, and scholarship into a coherent whole. Frames are as listed:
Authority Is Constructed and Contextual
Information Creation as a Process
Information Has Value
Research as Inquiry
Scholarship as Conversation
Searching as Strategic Exploration
Information Literacy - The set of skills needed to find, retrieve, analyze, and use information. Information literacy is more closely tied to course-integrated instruction but it extends far beyond coordination between the reference librarian and the individual faculty member. Even a cursory review of the Information Literacy Competency Standards (link) will show that there is much more to information literacy competence than library-related research. Students must demonstrate competencies in formulating research questions and in their ability to use information as well as an understanding of ethical and legal issues surrounding information. This requires a campus culture of collaboration and a focus on student learning.
Learning outcomes - A specific measurable achievement, a unit of what we expect a student to learn from the material we are teaching.
Resource-based learning - A method of teaching and learning that requires the student to explore a topic by finding information in numerous and varied sources of information